Flamingo Flocking Fundraiser

Purchase 10 pink plastic flamingos (lawn decorations). Pick 10 yards in your community to be the lucky recipients. Attach cards to the flamingoes’ necks with a phone number along with all the pertinent information regarding your group. State that for a $10 donation, the flamingos will be removed but for $15 they will be moved to the lawn of their choice. Make sure you also place a sign that has a contact name and phone number among the flamingos for those who drive by and would like to have the flamingos placed in a friends yard.

(Also give the option to simply pick up the flamingo gratis, since some people have no sense of fun.) It takes some organization, but is lots of fun. An additional fundraising idea is to sell “Pink Flamingo Insurance” for $10 to protect yourself from the invasion of these pink pests. Source: Northwest Synod of Wisconsin Resource Center, Eau Claire, Wisconsin)

Sneaky Flamingos: One fundraiser that my youth group did was to have people (most often parents) sign up to pay $X for X flamingo’s placed IN the yard WITHOUT being caught. Kids really got into it year after year dressing in cammies, sneaking into back yards, using the help of a neighbor or using distraction tactics for suspecting parents. Parents really like to get involved as well waiting out in their lawns with a garden hose or some other scare tactic. The event goes for several days without the parents knowing which house would be bombarded next. Though they knew their kids were out with the youth group and knew that they were posting flamingoes, they didn’t know which house would be hit that night. Eventually, parents generally donated the money regardless for the sheer fun and enjoyment of the activity for both them and their children. You could even keep it a secret as to what dates flamingoes will be posted, but it’s up to you! (Submitted by Alana W.)

Habitat for Humanity Fundraising: Fort Madison chapter raised over $1000 with the use of plastic pink-feathered friends that were trained to create flamingo habitats for one full day in unsuspecting yards around the community. Individuals had the opportunity to pay $50 to have a flock of 10 flamingos placed in another persons yard around 5 am until that evening. Those who received the flamingos then sent them on to another persons yard. All persons were given the opportunity to pay another $25 for flamingo insurance, so that the birds would not be used in retaliation. Before and during the month of July we took orders for specific dates of when the recipients would be seeing the flamingos in the yard. Source, B. Wright, Habitat for Humanity (Fort Madison, Iowa).

Fundraising Variation 1: Send everyone in your organization an announcement on pink paper about your Pink Flamingo fundraiser. Word your announcement something like this: A Pink Flamingo May Visit Your Family! On May 22, the youth group of [your organization] will conduct it first annual Pink Flamingo Fundraiser. We have several lovely pink flamingos, one of which may end up on your front lawn. We have divided the [church, school, etc.] into four Flamingo Areas. Inside each pink flamingo is a list of the names and addresses of church members living in one of the Flamingo Areas. On the appointed day, the youth group will plant each of the flamingos on the front lawn of one family from the Flamingo list. If the flamingo ends up in your front yard, you then – pledge a donation to the youth group, cross your name off the flamingo list, replant the flamingo in the yard of someone whose name has not yet been crossed off the list. The flamingo may not remain in the same yard for more than twenty-four hours. It is not necessary to follow the order of names on the list. HOWEVER, if you do not wish to see a pink flamingo on your lawn ever, you may buy Insurance for the Prevention of Large Pink Birds for only ten dollars. See any member of the youth group to purchase insurance. Purchase deadline is May 15.Source: CanadaYouth2000 (St. Catharines, Ontario)

Fundraising Variation2: Hold a good ole fashion flocking at your office. Make cut-outs of pink flamingos and charge co-workers to flock other people’s offices or cubes. Take the cut-outs or plastic flamingos and decorate the flockees area. You can charge $1 per flamingo, which will generate tons of money for your team. The bigger the flockin’, the better.

Fundraising Variation3: Get a bunch of pink flamingos (we paid $5.99 for six flamingo driveway reflectors through Oriental Trading Post) Other resources might be Wal-Mart – I’ve been told that they can order them for you in the Spring; some garden stores also have them in stock or can get them for you. If you decide on the large plastic birds, expect to pay about $10 for 2. Put the flamingos in a church member’s yard. The idea is that the yard will look so hideous with the pink birds that the church member will be more than happy to give a donation toward the fund raiser to get them out of there. Some options to consider are:

pre-sell flamingo insurance to prevent yards from getting flocked;

when a church member gets flocked, they get to pick the next victim; and

have a map at the church that charts their progress.

We found this fundraising idea to provide benefits far beyond what was expected. Letting the member whose yard is flocked chose the next yard included far more members than we expected. Not only members who attended worship every Sunday were flocked – we used it as an outreach tool. We flocked people who rarely attended, or who had only just started visiting! We discovered that no one was willing to be the last one to pass them on! Everyone was interested in where the flocks were (we had four flocks out). Conversation between members on Sun. morning usually started with, “I saw the flamingos in your yard….” The birds really brought the “family” together. And we even heard, “I’m glad they came to our house. I thought we were going to be left out.”

Allowing for fundraising donations instead of a set fee increased our income. The average donations was $25, but donations actually ranged from $10 – $200! We were able to raise close to $2,000 for our summer youth servant trip. Give it a try – we had a great time with the cute, pink, little birds!

We have included a number of do-it-yourself fundraising ideas in this section that offer a break from traditional product sales. They were developed by groups just like yours in an attempt have a little fun with their fundraiser. Some of them are tried and true while others show a lot of creativity … and even wackiness in some cases. All of them are obviously not appropriate for every group, but sometimes, with only a little modification, your might find some fund raising ideas that are perfect for your group. If you have an idea for a do-it-yourself fund raiser you are willing to share with others, please send it to us via email. Include anything and everything you would want to know if you were hearing the idea for the first time.